Annual Brief Presented
February 15th, 2011
The NLAFS presented our annual brief to government today. We were very well received by 4 ministers, Charlene Johnson, Felix Collins, Kevin O'Brien and Jerome Kennedy. Our main brief topic was again the funding allocation for the cost shared program and we urged government to increase this funding level. Fire trucks remain our priority this year because the province’s fleet of fire trucks continue to age and replacement is not keeping up with the demand.
What was to be a 20 minute presentation by our association executive became a very engaged session surrounding this main issue and topics related. The ensuing meeting lasted over 90 minutes.
Items officially presented were:
Increase required to the cost sharing program for fire trucks,
a request for income tax relief for volunteer firefighters,
a request for direction on the issue surrounding defibrilators and volunteer fire departments.
Also a variety of other fire service related topics were discussed and the executive felt it was one of the best and engaged meetings with cabinet in recent memory.